Was the Boston Big 3 a failure?

Now , that the big 3 has been officially been separated ,did they live up to expectations?
A handful of ECF appearance and one ring and two finals appearances. Did they match your expectations of 3 HOF coming together?

A ring right out of the gate is not a failure. Can't predict injuries. This is still the best Cs team since the 80s and it is going onto 6 seasons now. If you count it over because Ray left it is still a great run, but this year's team is definately better than last year. And remember the Boston "Monsters" gamble of 2010 (Shaq / J.O. / Garnett / KP / Big Baby). It fell apart, but that was a fun month or two when it was working.

All they needed was a ring, they got that. I truly did not expect them to win the first year, they did. Than they were pretty damn competitive afterwards, running into better teams down the line (including a Miami Big 3 that knocked them out of the last two play-offs, barely this year). The first time you really heard "Big 3" was with these Celtics. The term was not used in the Lakers/Celtics 80's (to my knowledge) and was not used when Charles Barkley teamed up with Hakeem and Clyde (who in their prime, I believe would have been an even more formidable Big 3).

The Celtics of Garnett, Pierce and Allen all came together in their 30's. To me, Ray Allen was clearly past his prime, while the other two were nearing or past their peak as well. Ray Allen has been a consistent All-Star, amazing shooter and one of the games top SG's, just never really in the class of Kevin Garnett or Paul Pierce.

Honestly, felt like Ray Allen was the Chris Bosh of the Celtics Big 3, lol. Not many classified him as such and it is not to say that he did not have incredible games (51 points against the Bulls, though it was a loss. Still a very memorable performance, dominant shooting). He was definitely a major key to the Celtics success, as well. I am not saying that Ray at his peak was not better than Bosh at his peak (though it would be debateable), not even saying Bosh is as good of a player as Ray on an All-Time scale (Bosh needs a few more really solid years to be in the discussion). What I am saying is, much like Bosh, Ray Allen was not on the level of his two other teammates as an All-Time player or in the aspect of their teams structure.

Now that I have that explained, the Celtics were clearly not built for the long run with these guys. They needed to win ASAP, and they accomplished that. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were two of the top 10 players in the league for a long time (KG was definitely top 5 for about a decade). They had all accomplished a lot individually and all of them had at times had to carry teams that only had the potential to go so far. Teaming up was obviously for the purpose of winning a championship and they did.

If one is to compare the expectations of Boston to those of Miami, I believe Miami's are indeed much greater. Part of it is due to the fact (as DanEBoy will never fail to point out) that LeBron and the gang announced their intentions to dominate the NBA one day after signing a deal. To me, the greater factor is their age. They were younger as a core group. While they do not have a Rondo (at least certainly appear not to), the more important factor is that their main guys have less tread on their tires. Throw in the fact that they have two players you might classify as top 5 players in the game and a perennial All-Star PF, the expectations are greater. So, to conclude, I believe the Celtics winning "only" one championship was not a failure in the least. If Miami only wins one ring, I think I would have to say that would be seen as much more of a failure due to their timing in the careers of their core triumvirate.

And the decisions on the Wade/James/Bosh trio aren’t really up to the Heat, unless they are willing to deal either Wade or Bosh for another franchise player who might become available. (Who?) Wade will be 34 when he hits free agency if he stays in Miami as long as possible under his current deal, right at the age where Nowitzki is now — the age of taking a massive pay cut and facing some interesting choices.
Future candidates

With a new coach and a re-armed cast around one of the best power forwards in the game, LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland is banking on returning to the postseason in 2013 after a one-year hiatus. For this to happen, sixth overall pick Damian Lillard will have to play up to his sky-high potential and the reserves in Rip City will have to step up to create a serviceable bench.

“Dwight, to be a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, you’ve got to have a little of that dog in you,” Bryant said. “It’s just a matter of him digging deep and just pulling it out. But it’s already there. It’s just a matter of him having it become habit.”u658568

"One of his issues in the past was his man would help, the ball would come back to him, a teammates man would rotate, and he would shoot it, instead of making the extra pass," Skiles said. "He's much, much better with that now, feeling when he's open and not pressing if he doesn't get a shot. There are some guys in the league that are like junkies — if they don't get a shot for a couple minutes, they're going to throw up any old shot. He's really calmed himself down. Everybody knows when his feet are set and he gets a good look, he's a high-level shooter."

''My first time, it was much more dramatic. It was a team that was trying to change its image. It was a team that had won 21 games in the regular season,'' Aldridge said. ''So that time was a lot different than this one. This time we really have some good pieces, and I think guys are actually better this time. ''